Flight from Dubai to Sydney to Auckland

Dubai

Terminal 1

So as I already mentioned in The journey begins – Munich to Dubai, I didn’t have much time in Dubai. Even less for exploring outside. So I was stuck inside this huge airport of which I only saw one terminal.

All I could do was sit and wait for my next flight.

Flight to Sydney

And after around 3 hours of waiting, I could board onto the next Airbus A380. This time operated by Quantas. And you could see very quickly, the interior wasn’t as modern or luxurious as Emirates. They didn’t have WiFi as it says on my booking and I couldn’t find any power outlets either. I didn’t use my laptop on the way to Dubai, but that was only a 6 hour flight. I was then caged for 14 hours and I really wanted to use my laptop 🙁

Nevertheless I had a nice couple from the UK sitting next to me, which is always good on a long flight 🙂

The first meal was served very quickly after take off. It didn’t look as good as the dish I had on my previous flight but it was really tasty.

Having lunch on board.

Because I couldn’t work on my laptop, I decided to use the infotainment system on board. It wasn’t as good as the one from Emirates but at least they had some good new movies 🙂 I chose ‘Her’ which I have wanted to watch for a long time. But couldn’t finish it, because I felt too tired. I was happy about this because sleeping would make the duration of the flight feel shorter. But sleeping was not easy. The longest time I slept was between 20 and 40 minutes.

Watching the movie “Her”

It was difficult to imagine but even 14 hours of flight eventually came to an end 🙂 Before landing, the board crew handed out some forms to fill in for passengers who were staying in Australia. This was about the things they brought with them and questions about countries they have visited in the last few months. This process was in action to prevent Ebola break out in Australia.

Sydney

And there it was. The continent I have always wanted to go to. Unfortunately the same problem as in Dubai. No time (and no permission) to leave the airport. I spent even less time here as I had only 2 hour stopover. However it was still amazing to have been in Australia. 🙂

Inside the security control I used a body scanner for the first time. You just stand inside a box, raise your hands and wait for a few seconds. After that there is a screen outside, showing your highly stylized body shape and indicators for where metal or other illegal items may be located on your body.

Me walking into the body scanner. GoPro still on my backpack lying on the line.

Good thing about the delay of the flight to Sydney: I didn’t have to wait too long, for my next flight.

Flight to Auckland

Inside the Boing 777 to Auckland.

This was a much smaller plane. Okay, coulnd’t get any bigger since the A380 is the biggest airliner in the world. But compared to it this Boeing 777 was really small. Only 3-3 seats instead of 3-4-3. You could barely stand in the aisle.

And I was searching for a power outlet again. Then a crew member showed me that it’s underneath the seat. And then I wondered if there was one in the Quantas A380 as well. Now I know better: If you don’t ask you’ll never know.

This time I didn’t really feel like using my laptop as it was just a 2 hour flight. I had my 5th airplane meal in a row and then we had already reached land – New Zealand! 🙂

The scenery you could see from above promised an amazing country.

After landing, inside the airport, I was being welcomed by some Māori wooden art. After the passport control there was another control which they probably only have in New Zealand. That’s for international flights and checks if you bring any kind of food, water, or sport items that could be contaminated and they even check your shoes, for any dirt etc. And that’s not because they want good looking guests in their country 😛 It’s because they might have seeds on them and they want to keep and protect their flora and fauna.

After passing the controls, I felt very relieved because I knew that it was the last flight for some time and that I was going to stay in a hostel and sleep in a proper bed for the night 🙂

Terminal 1

Waiting for the tram to bring me to the right gate (sorry, random GoPro shot which is mounted to my backpack and shooting continuous time lapse.

Hi I'm Jens, 29 years old and about to finish my Master Degree in Media Informatics (M. Sc.). In my spare time I love to play board games with friends or just hang out with them, taking photos (especially landscape and long exposure) and of course travelling :)